Move over banks, Reserve Bank of India pushes for smart wallets

The RBI is running a pilot project with a group of private payment gateway operators like Oxigen and Airtel Money to facilitate money transfers without the intervention of a bank.

This is how it works: You can register or open a wallet on the Oxigen payment gateway by just sending an SMS to the company number. Once you open a wallet you can deposit money in it by transferring from your bank account. You can then transfer the money to the recipients mobile number. Initially this amount can be used for paying bills, charging your SIM card etc. Soon cashing out facility will also be opened through about 10,000 kiosks or ATM like maachines which will be opened across the country.